This is the class blog for Eng 1102 at GA Tech called "Fiction, Human Rights, and Social Responsibility." The purpose of this blog is to extend our discussion beyond the classroom and to become aware of human rights issues that exist in the world today and how technology has played a role in either solving or aggravating them. Blogs will be a paragraph long (250 words) and students will contribute once every three weeks according to class number. Entries must be posted by Friday midnight.

Friday, October 25, 2013

New police anti-terror powers could be unlawful, say MPs

This article discusses the criticism of a joint committee in
the UK on the right to detain travelers and raid their data. The committee says
that it is unlawfulness to detain travelers for up to six hours without
suspicion, as well as download data from their phones and laptops. Powers to
access, search, examine, copy, and retain data held on personal electronic devices
is so wide that the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said it is not in
accordance with the law.

Given the nature of the information held on these devices, the
powers to search without suspicion surely breach human rights laws—especially the
right to liberty and security and the right to a private life. The group wants
a threshold introduced to the more extensive powers so they can only be applied
if the examining officer reasonably suspects the person is or has been involved
in terrorism.

The Committee said that the Government has failed to show a
need for the "more intrusive powers" under Schedule 7 of the
Terrorism Act 2000, which also permit officers to detain passengers - whether
suspicious or not - at ports and airports for up to six hours, as well as take
fingerprints and DNA samples. JCHR believes the scope of the powers should be
narrowed to reduce the potential for them to clash with the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR).

The opposing argument is, given the current nature of the
threat from international terrorism, it is acceptable that the Government has
made out the case for having an unusual power to stop, question and search travelers
without suspicion.

It is vital that the UK Parliament comes to an agreement about
this problematic human rights issue, which they hope to do through the Anti-social
Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill introduced in the House of Commons in May.